10-20-2016

Dear future president,

There has been a rise in school shootings, so perhaps we should have better gun control to prevent them.

Now I know what you might be thinking: self-defense is important, and I agree. Sometimes people need to defend themselves. However, according to Matt Bennett, about 31,000 Americans per year die by getting shot, 80,000 are injured, and 500,000 crimes are committed. Plus, there are other ways to defend yourself that are safer, such as bodybuilding, carrying non-lethal weapons, maybe take a martial arts class. Though, those are just my ideas.

Matt Bennett, co-founder and senior vice president of public affairs of Third Way, an organization that comes up with ideas for the government, has stated that when it comes to increasing gun control, “Most of those who have voted ‘no’ surely know that they did the wrong thing by opposing the expansion of background checks in commercial settings.”Bennett, Matt. "Gun Control Can Prevent School Shootings." Gale Opposing Viewpoints. Matt Bennett, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.Why would people say no? Let’s make a comparison, shall we? Japan, which has strict gun control laws, having about 0.07 per 100,000 deaths. On the other hand, Switzerland, where most citizens have guns at home, have more than triple that with 3.84 per 100,000 deaths. If we can’t get rid of guns, we could do more research in our background checks. If not, why bother with background checks?

I think we’ve been so distracted by the fact that these events have happened that a lot of us forget about how they have happened. So in recap, I want is to have better gun control. Maybe have more thorough background checks when selling firearms. I just want all of this pain and death to stop, or at the very least get better.

Sincerely,

Davy Jones.